Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Willihammer

Provisional Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    7,383

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Profiles

Minnesota Twins News, Rumors & Analysis

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospect Rankings

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Minnesota Twins Trade & Free Agent Rumors

Minnesota Twins Fan Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Willihammer

  1. Willihammer
    As mentioned, there's a time value to money. A front loaded contract has more present value than a backloaded one, that's what both sides are concerned about, not AAV. I would be shocked if the term "aav" entered a multi-year contract negotiation at any point.
  2. Willihammer
    I agree it can make perfect sense from the Twins perspective because one team's interests will at times be at odds with the long term interests of MLB owners, depending on where they are in arbitration raises, free agents, etc. and where they sit in the standings. But if everyone frontloaded their player contracts when they hit one of these windows like the Twins are in, it would impact prices in the players favor. Not every FA is looking to sign a 4+ year deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars. There are players looking for 2-3 year deals who would be impacted, and over time trickle down the chain to affect the minimum wage and minor leaguers. Backloading, specifically backloading at a rate less-than-the-current-rate-of-salary-inflation suppresses that.
  3. Willihammer
    That's exactly what would happen. Frontloading accelerates inflation, backloading keeps prices down. One contract on one team wouldn't make much difference but if frontloading were to become standard practice, than any dollar saved for a later window would buy a fraction of what it could otherwise. That's why it doesn't happen much. It might benefit one team in one year but its not in ownership's collective long term interest.
  4. Willihammer
    Salaries are already inflating at a ~12% rate. Frontloading would just compound that. Frontloading might benefit owners who are in a financial window but over the long term it is shooting themselves in the foot. Especially if you're talking about players paid in the top 125 and therefore factor into the QO price.
  5. Willihammer
    David Price has also been mentioned in rumors. I don't understand why teams always shy away from intra league and especially, intra divisional trades. I love the idea of an intradivisional trade. The Twins should be able to out-evaluate their own prospects and get the Tigers to bite on one or more of the top 10 prospect who they don't believe in. Certainly the statistics say there will be more than a few of them. That would directly alter the balance of power in the Twins favor.
  6. Willihammer
    “I don’t want to throw it out there that we are looking for someone just to eat innings. We are looking for someone who is going to give us quality innings.” -Terry Ryan, Dec 6, 2014 http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/284988161.html
  7. Willihammer
    Yeah, I'm biased. Seems like they made more. Actually if you want to extend the timeline back to 1990, the Whities hold a 2061-1940 win advantage over the Twins, although I'm not sure they were as aggressive in trading prospects back then. That was a little before my time.
  8. Willihammer
    I don't think there's much question they are in a better spot than the Twins to compete for the next 5 years. But if the 2000s were any indication they'll make a boneheaded move, maybe two before the term is over and at that point the Twins draft and hold policy will start to gain ground on them.
  9. Willihammer
    MLBTR saying Liriano and Pirates agree to 3/39 deal. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/12/pirates-to-re-sign-francisco-liriano.html
  10. Willihammer
    I don't think anyone believes the White Sox have been a perfectly run franchise or even a better one than the Twins. I certainly wouldn't have traded what the Sox did for a 38 year old David Wells, for example. A 6th rounder and a 16th rounder for a 30 year old Samardzija, who worshipped the White Sox as a kid, seems a lot more reasonable IMO. To your second point, the Twins and White Sox are basically polar opposites of each other in how they handle prospects - one uses them as a pipeline of talent and the other uses them as currency, its interesting to compare the results of the two strategies. And 1150 wins doesn't mean much without some context. Also this is a Twins forum.
  11. Willihammer
    People have cried "the White Sox are mortgaging their future!" since the David Wells trade. Since then they've won 1150 games. The Twins? 1153.
  12. Willihammer
    Sounds like its official. Took a 6th rounder and a 16th rounder to get it done. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/12/white-sox-to-acquire-jeff-samardzija.html
  13. Willihammer
    Sorry to burst your bubble Kirb but I think "Mystery team" = Astros It would be cool to be a mystery team just once though.
  14. Willihammer
    Yes. The point being, for crissake get an ace Also December.
  15. Willihammer
    Has there ever been a better buyers market for ace pitchers? I count 10 aces available, or rumored to be available, this winter. Scherzer Lester Shields Zimmerman Fister Price Porcello Samadzija Hamels Maeda Of course it goes without saying that no team more the the Twins, whose starting staff finished last in the AL for the 3rd year in a row, are a lock to land one. Right? Right?
  16. Willihammer
    I can't bash the Twins for signing Hunter. They needed someone to put out there with Arcia and Hicks / Schafer / fill-in-the-blank center fielder for a year, and they have a lousy group of OFers to choose from IMO. I do believe Twins scouts may be looking at Hunter's defense through rose colored glasses, judging by Ryan's quotes. But Hunter's healthy and coming off a .765 season. If they can squeeze similar production out of him, then he'll be a great addition to the lineup and I'll live with daily gamble that x-number of high leverage fringe zone fly balls are hit to him. Of course, if he doesn't hit, that's a different story.
  17. Willihammer
    To me, at first blush, it looks like the Yankees got the short end of the deal.
  18. Willihammer
    I'd love to see Ryan turn a couple nickels into a quarter in trade.
  19. Willihammer
    Don't know why you'd think that. In OP's link, Ryan tells Berardino he thinks Hunter could play center field for a stint if needed. "Average" and "pretty good" were the words he used to describe his defense, not "subpar."
  20. Willihammer
    Question for scouting nerds. Terry Ryan says his scouts graded Hunter's range as "average." What is average?
  21. Willihammer
    Yes, the Twins already have two broken starters on the roster, possibly 3 with Meyer. Naturally, they should seek more.
  22. Willihammer
    He's going to be 38 but he did start 32 games with halfway decent peripherals. He's not someone I considered but probably could be had on a short deal. I'm intrigued. I wonder if they identified room for improvement with a repertoire tweak. He threw his changeup 10% of the time in 2014 but opponents slugged .540 off it. Every other pitch was .403 or under.
  23. Willihammer
    I concur spanman. I think the Twins view Hunter as a champion of their draft and development philosophy, and the turnaround after the 90s, 6 out of 9, etc. The two do share some things in common - 1st round picks, slow starters, last name starts with H. Hunter's career turned the corner at age 25 and I think the Twins desperately want Hicks' to do the same. I don't know if bringing Hunter in is the best way to accomplish that but reading the tea leaves, I think that's clearly part of their motivation.
  24. Willihammer
    IMO the situation is the same. They need at least one front of the rotation starting pitcher to pair with Hughes and to bump everyone down a peg and improve the bullpen. I would keep May in the rotation though. He has been healthy and looks like he could be a workhorse, even if he never turns into an ace.
  25. Willihammer
    http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/2015-free-agent-predictions/ Fans are sticker shocked this winter, again. What a surprise.
×
×
  • Create New...